A Belated Valentine's Day
by Em Kay Who
Summary: The Doctor and Rose decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a bit belatedly. Set in the Holiday 'Verse.


**A/N: A belated Valentine's Day one-shot set in The Holiday 'Verse. While I always intended on posting this after Valentine's Day, I originally intended on posting this sooner. Unfortunately I suffered an injury that his slowed my writing and editing. *sighs***

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related.**

* * *

"Rose! We missed Valentine's Day!" the Doctor shouted as he raced through the front door of his and Rose's flat. He'd just arrived home from spending the afternoon with Pete inspecting the factories where the Vitex drinks are produced. Pete had wanted the Doctor's opinion on whether the machinery they were using were up to par and the most efficient. Surprisingly, everything looked great and the Doctor was able to leave after giving a few suggestions for minor changes and upgrades that will help the factory employees manage the machinery better.

Rose looked up in confusion from the magazine she was flipping. "Of course we didn't. It was last week," she reminded him.

"But, Rose, we didn't celebrate!" he whined, flopping down next to her on the sofa.

"So?"

"So!? This was our first real Valentine's Day together and what did we do? Nothing!"

Rolling her eyes, she replied. "Now that's not true. We had pho and watched Friends reruns."

"But why didn't we _do_ anything?" he asked, looking strangely vulnerable to Rose.

"Are you talking about sex? Because we had it the next morning if I recall correctly."

He huffed in annoyance. "That's not what I meant. Why didn't we celebrate Valentine's Day?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've never really done anything special for it before. Jimmy thought Valentine's was stupid and Micks would usually just get me some chocolate and take me to the pub."

"We're better than all that though." The Doctor gave a heavy sigh. "I'm so sorry I forgot, Rose."

"Doctor," she chuckled, scooting closer so his arm would come around her, "there's nothing to apologise for. I honestly didn't think much of it. And to be fair, I didn't do anything for you!"

"Don't be silly. You don't need to do anything for me, Rose."

"And you don't need to do anything for me!"

"Of course I do," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I can't believe I didn't realise it was Valentine's Day."

"Oh, Doctor." Rose cupped his cheek and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Her Doctor always tried so hard to make every day special for her, but he really had an infinity for holidays. She never realised though how guilty he would feel about not celebrating the holiday devoted to love. "It's really okay. We've both been so busy with Torchwood and wedding plans. It's not like you intentionally ignored it."

He nodded. "I know. I just would have liked to take you out for a romantic dinner."

She smiled and raised herself to her knees. "Well, who says you still can't?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Loads of couples celebrate at a later date! We could just go out tomorrow."

A wide grin split the Doctor's face. "Sounds like a brilliant idea, but not tomorrow! I'll need a few days. How about this coming Friday?"

Rose bit her lip in anticipation and replied, "It's a date."

* * *

Several days later, Rose was putting the finishes touches on her makeup when someone knocked on the front door of their flat. "Doctor," she called out, "Can you get that?" Met with silence, the knocking continued. "Doctor? I'm a bit busy, can you please see who is at the door?" Nothing. With a heavy sigh, Rose set her mascara down and exited the en suite. It wasn't unusual for the Doctor to become so distracted with something that he tuned out the outside world, but she hoped whatever project he was working would be done soon. He was the one who made the seven o'clock reservation for dinner after all. Looking out the peephole she could only make out the colour red. Opening the door she was met with the sight of her Doctor holding a bouquet of a dozen red roses. "Doctor!"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Rose!" he announced before pulling her into a deep kiss.

When she finally pulled away, she chuckled at the sight of her lippy that had transferred to him. "You bought me roses."

"A bit cliche, I know, but I couldn't help myself," he said, handing her the flowers.

"I love it! I've never been given a dozen red roses before."

"Glad to be your first."

Rose blushed at the cheeky wink he gave her, made even sillier with her lipstick smeared on his mouth. "Shut up. I've got to go fix my lips now and you've got to go clean your face up."

Quickly fixing themselves, the Doctor helped Rose into the black peacoat the perfectly complemented with hip hugging red wrap dress she'd recently purchased. "You know the roses weren't my only surprise for you," he told her.

"Doctor, we agreed no presents," she reminded. With their upcoming wedding they'd agreed that there was no need to purchase presents for one another at this time.

"I know but this was just a silly little tradition I wanted to follow," he said, handing her a small heart shaped box he'd kept hidden in his coat pocket. "Unfortunately this was all I could find left in the clearance section at Tesco."

Rose burst into giggles at the Frozen themed box of chocolates he'd given her. "It's perfect!"

"I'll do better next year."

"Don't you dare!"

He chuckled. "You are a strange one, Rose Tyler."

She hummed happily. "But you love me anyway."

"That I do," he whispered.

Feeling her cheeks warm under the intense look he was giving her, Rose said, "We better get going if we don't want to miss our reservation."

The Doctor nodded. "Right you are! Allons-y!"

Leading her out of their flat an into the lift, Rose was surprised when the Doctor pressed the up button instead of the down. "Doctor, what are you doing?"

"Taking you to dinner," he responded.

"On the roof?" she asked as the lift doors opened to their destination.

Leading her to the small table for two that had been set up on the middle of the rooftop. "Rose Tyler, welcome to your Valentine's dinner!"

"Doctor!" Rose exclaimed as she took in the red and white checkered tablecloth, the single candle that hadn't been lit yet, and the two insulated picnic baskets that were waiting off to the side. In one she learned was their dinner consisting of steak and chips from their favourite restaurant down the street. The second held a bottle of Rose's favourite wine."

"I tried finding a nice restaurant to take you too, but this just seemed right. Us eating under the stars for our Valentine's," he explained as they worked together to serve up their food and pour the wine.

She reached across the table and grabbed his hand. "It's lovely, Doctor. Truly."

"I really like this," he said after their meal was finished. "You and me, just the two of us up here. I think this should become our thing."

"Our very own Valentine's tradition?"

"Exactly."

"I like it on this day though." She took a deep breath. "Celebrating on February fourteenth is nice and all, but I like that we have this day for just us."

He smiled brightly. "I couldn't agree more."

Rose stood from her seat and moved to situate herself on his lap. "Are you ready for your surprise now?"

"I thought we agreed on no presents?"

"This is just a little thing something I threw on."

He raised one eyebrow. "Threw... on?"

"Yep. Care to find it?" she baited.

The Doctor moved his hand to the tie of her wrap dress. "Hot or cold?"

Rose leaned down and whispered in his ear. "Hot."


End file.
